Perforator penetrates, not pulverizes: Controlling dynamic underbalanced pressure when perforating using the PURE method results in clean perforation tunnels for higher productivity and better injectivity

摘要

Perforating using static underbalance is the most widely accepted technique for optimizing perforated completions. This method alone, however, still delivers many underperforming wells. The explosive charges used when perforating pulverize formation rock grains and create low permeability crushed zones in the formation surrounding the perforations and also leave loose crushed rock debris inside the perforation tunnels that can seriously impair injection. This perforation damage can be consistently minimized or eliminated by carefully designing the completion to benefit from the new Perforating for Ultimate Reservoir Exploitation (PURE) perforating method. This method creates and optimizes a dynamic underbalance (the transient underbalance established just after the creation of the perforation tunnel) when perforating a reservoir, resulting in clean perforations and thereby increasing the productivity or injectivity of a well.